"The Accountant" Review

Ben Affleck returns to the screen in The Accountant, the latest of director Gavin O'Connor's compelling examinations of brotherhood.

Affleck plays Christain Wolff, a CPA who moonlights by cooking and uncooking the books for some of the world's most high-profile criminals. Christian is called in to an Illinois firm specializing in applied robotics after a whistleblower (Anna Kendrick) finds millions of dollars missing from some annual statements. As fate would have it, the robotics people are up to something shady, and they'll do just about anything to keep it secret. Christian eludes and fights back against both the federal agents and hired guns who are hot on his tail.

Oh, yeah, and one more thing: Christian has a high-functioning form of autism.

My gut reaction to The Accountant is "two thumbs up." The film is as exciting a caper as we've seen this year with some terrific action sequences and a script peppered with a refreshing dose of humor. Granted there are occasional lapses in storytelling logic; some of the subplots get a bit tangled, but overall I had a great time with this movie. Affleck's "accountant" feels like the return of the "everyman" hero. If you ask me, the current blockbuster landscape has needed a corny "everyman" flick badly.

Perhaps more engaging than the set pieces, however, the story explores some of the coping mechanisms and developmental strategies of people with developmental disorders such as autism and Asperger's syndrome. It's great to have an entertaining flick with mainstream appeal that calls attention to some of these issues. I've heard some criticisms from people who are concerned that the film may be too ableist. In truth, the film examines how Christian's character grows in response to, or in spite of, ableism. Christian's father is a hardened military man who forces his boys into specialized combat training out of fear that young Christian may be picked on for being "different." Perhaps that's an inherently "ableist" attitude, but it's part of the father's character. Also, I say "boys" because Christian has a younger brother, Braxton, and whatever the two of them do, they do together. One is never portrayed as superior to the other. The father wants his sons both to learn how to cope with the harsh stimuli of the world around them. Christian is never coddled or made to be "less than" anyone else, and we see how this pans out from early development through his mature coping years.

No doubt there are capable actors out there who have made successful careers for themselves despite living with a developmental disorder. One day hopefully we'll have someone like that in a role like this. However, even with Affleck in the part, I say that some representation is better than none at all.

And, besides, when have we ever been able to say that the coolest Hollywood "superhero" of the year is an autistic accountant?

B+

"Deadpool" Review

After years in development hell at Fox, the "Merc with a Mouth" finally has his own live-action movie! And they finally did right by the character. You may recall that Ryan Reynolds first played Wade Wilson in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but whatever abhorrent movie monster they turned him into for the final act was most assuredly NOT Deadpool.

Eww, no.

As a result of the public's violent outcry for an honest portrayal of Deadpool, Reynolds, along with writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, championed the character and the idea of an R-rated, stand-alone Deadpool film. After some "leaked" test footage went viral, Fox couldn't put the movie off any longer. They finally took a risk on what is essentially an R-rated X-Men movie. The character of Deadpool has always been synonymous with crude, scatalogical humor, crass language, fourth-wall breaking and graphic violence. Thank our lucky comic-book stars that none of that is lost in 2016's Deadpool.

Probably the film's most contrived aspect is that it is, at its core, another basic superhero origin story. The big difference is that Deadpool is well aware of its own trappings. First-time director Tim Miller and his writers use these basic pieces to present a character and his world so in-tune with the source material that this becomes a superhero movie that actually feels refreshing. 

Eww, yes.

Explaining the plot in-depth will give too much away because of the way Deadpool himself toys with the structure of the film. For example, he stops in the middle of the opening action scene and narrates to us how we got to the current situation, which happens to be a thug impaled on his dual katanas "like a fucking kebab." Deadpool's words, not mine. Through this detour, the character's backstory and stakes are established. We learn that the opening action scene is one important moment in a larger revenge narrative.  

As crass as Deadpool is as both a character and film, its lightheartedness is infectious. It's impossible to hate the way this story is treated when the character is played with so much enthusiasm and loyalty to its roots. Kudos to Reynolds for working tirelessly to do this character right and for finally pulling off a superhero role. It's been tossed around that this is the part Reynolds was "born to play." Deadpool fits his comic sensibilities and his physicality so perfectly that it's hard to argue otherwise.

As a film, Deadpool will never win any awards and may never be considered a "masterpiece" by anyone's standards. However, this is a film that knows exactly what it has to be and pulls it off without any glaring flaws. Believe it or not, Deadpool, Fox's R-rated super-gamble, is the first must-see movie of 2016.

A+